Free Pretty and Reckless by Charity Ferrell Page B

would I lie about that?”
    His eyes were feverish while he pulled at his curls in frustration. “You swear to me? You can confide in me. If you lied, I won’t judge you.”
    “I can’t believe you, you’re just like them.” I snatched my bag up, ready to charge out of the room and forget about Weston, but he lunged out of his chair to stop me. I felt suffocated when he pushed me back down into my seat and stood up in front of me.
    “Please don’t think I’m calling you a liar,” he said, dragging his arms down to rest on my shoulders so I couldn’t get back up. “I only want to make sure you’re being honest with me.”
    “And there’s a difference?” I asked, coldly. I was sick and tired of defending myself.
    “There is. I’m trained in behavior. I’m trained to distinguish if someone is being honest or lying.”
    My head spun as I tried to pull away from his hold, but he held on tighter with his shaky hands. My stomach churned with anger, as I grew dizzier. “So tell me, what does your oh-so-intelligent training say about me?” I snarled, ready to flee. After all of this time, he still didn’t believe me, and that hurt. It hurt bad .
    He eyes slammed shut while he took short, hollow inhales before slowing opening them back up. I looked up at him, begging him to meet my eyes, but he refused to look at me. “You’re not lying,” he muttered, his eyes studying the floor. “You’re telling the truth, and I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
    His hands flew off my shoulders when I threw my arms up in the air. “Then there’s your goddamned answer. I’m not a lying whore, are you happy now? Did I convince you well enough?”
    He winced at my words. “What? I never thought for one second that you’re a lying whore.”
    “Could’ve fooled me.”
    I was being harder on him than I should’ve, but I was so fed up with being questioned. I was tired of people not taking me seriously and thinking I was crying wolf for attention. I got enough attention. I’d had enough fucking attention to last me the rest of my life.
    “Tell me everything,” he insisted, the couch indenting when he sat down next to me.
    “I can’t,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not going back to that place.”
    I’d told people parts about what had happened to me, but never the full story. There were things still hidden that I’d lock away inside of myself forever. No one would ever know every detail of my past. They wouldn’t know what he’d done and allowed others to do to me. No one deserved to hear that from me.
    “Yes, you can.”
    “You don’t understand!” I cried out. “I’ve been good. I’ve been keeping my mouth shut. I’m trying to take off the badge of being the attention seeking skank who fucks people and then calls rape!” My eyelids grew heavy as I fought with myself to hold back the tears.
    “No one else will hear what you tell me. This is just me and you,” he begged. “Just me and you. Trust me.”
    My head dipped down and I rested my forehead into my palm. “I don’t trust anyone.” I opened up to Weston, but that didn’t mean I trusted him.
    He shifted me to the side, slowly bringing my head up to brush away the tears I hadn’t been able to stop. “Let me prove it to you. Let me show you I’m trustworthy.” He grabbed my hand. “I know you don’t want to drag that shit back up, but you need to. Open up. Let me hear it. If you feel like it’s too much, stop. You call the shots. I’m just here to be on team Elise.”
    I rubbed my fingers against his hand before tightening around it. “I’ll remember the first time until I take my last breath. My dad was still working his way up the corporate ladder, building relationships with the highest execs in the city, and he wanted the world at his fingertips. In his strive for power, he realized I could be a useful tool.”
    “Son of a bitch,” he mumbled.
    “The first time was on my thirteenth birthday. I was sitting in front of